The power play pigeons came home to roost for the Stars Saturday night.

They weren’t the only reason the Stars’ telephone line collapsed in a 5-2 loss to the Chicago Blackhawks at American Airlines Center, but they certainly didn’t help.

Dallas was 0-for-6 with the man advantage, while Chicago cashed in on its only power-play opportunity, and that was the difference in what was a one-goal game with three minutes to play. As the Stars were pushing for the tie, they gave up two late goals to make the difference bigger than it looked.

The Stars are now 0-for-24 at home on the power play, but Stars coach Lindy Ruff said Saturday’s number was a little deceiving. The Stars, in fact, scored two seconds after one power play expired and definitely still had a man advantage at the net at the time.

What’s more, Ruff said, the focus might need to be on how well the Stars played against the defending Stanley Cup champions. Dallas had a 33-31 advantage in shots on goal and definitely earned the six power plays.

“I thought we did a lot of great things,” Ruff said. “I thought we had more puck possession, I thought we outskated them, a lot of times I thought we outworked them. They were a little smarter than us.”

The Blackhawks moved to 11-2-4 and clearly are playing some smart hockey. They entered the game second in the league in shot differential and were tops in Corsi and Fenwick — stats used to measure team puck possession. But the Stars spent a great deal of time in the offensive end and had a 68-47 edge in shot attempts (including missed shots and blocked shots) — a Corsi’s fans delight.

“They’re one of the best, if not the best, team in the league,” said center Tyler Seguin, who scored his seventh goal of the season. I thought we had some good chances. I thought we were moving it around out there. But they’re a good team, their goalie made some good saves.”

Still, the power play is befuddling. The Stars have scored just twice in the last eight games, and the extra goal could definitely make a difference. The Stars easily could have put the pressure on the Blackhawks early, and could tied the game up midway through the third period.

Instead, Chicago took momentum from the penalty killing.

“Basically, it was one of those nights where you look at special teams was the differential and our penalty kill led the charge,” said Chicago coach Joel Quenneville. “It was a great goal for the power play, and I thought overall, we played a real strong game discounting the penalties we took.”

Dallas too played strong. Eakin and Seguin both had nice goals. Jamie Benn had a pretty assist and five shots on goal. Kari Lehtonen made some big saves in the third period to keep it a one-goal game. There was a lot to like about the Stars.

However, Eakin also had a breakdown on the penalty kill that allowed the Blackhawks to go in transition and score a huge goal.

“The changing point was a turnover by myself on the penalty,” Eakin said. “I was trying to get a little too fancy there. I have to get back to basics in areas like that.”

Still, the Stars were fast, were skilled and challenged one of the best teams in the league during a testing run in which they play just once on home ice in a span of seven games. They fall to 8-7-2 and have to head out on a three-game road trip to Western Canada next week.

But Ruff wanted to make sure that the focus for the team is in the right place.

They came close to scoring on the power play, and they continued to push forward in becoming a strong team. However, they didn’t make the right plays at the right time.

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